Medical Simulation Training and Action Science - Essay Example

It lays emphasis on establishing new routines and learning new frameworks. With action science, new opportunities are identified; any potential fault or threat is identified and corrected (Action design, 2011). In this context, the change in medical practice from the traditional approach, where the interns acquired procedural training at the bedside of real patients to use of simulation experiences or models to teach interns, is an example of an unavoidable scenario and demands for intervention which action science offers.

Action science offers axiological interventions at critical points of the medical teaching setup that will demonstrate the significance of embracing use of models in teaching residents at a time when emerging issues of patient safety are becoming real. At this point, it is critical to highlight the objectives of this research. The fundamental goal of this research is to determine whether simulation or the use of models is an effective didactic intervention for pediatric residents. Other points of focus include: whether there exists a standardized procedural curriculum that is recognized by the other residency programs, need for more educational interventions, will simulation training increase a resident’s confidence and translate into competency when doing procedures on real patients and ability of residents to sustain for a long time the proficiency of gained procedural skills.

These critical issues shall be addressed by the dissertation but we cannot avoid highlighting them at this point in order to keep them in perspective as we demonstrate the applicability of action science to the core objectives of the research. As previously stated, action science aims to increase the confidence and skills of an individual or group of people and promote long-term group and individual effectiveness (Argyris, 1992). With the unavoidable change occurring within hospitals, it has become increasingly hard for residents to be taught with real patients, the use of models has been suggested and adopted for use as a viable alternative to the traditional approach.

Action science will provide a platform for the development of skills and confidence of the individual residents to the extent that they will be able to handle real patients better. They will be able to use their procedural skills and with more confidence and their overall effectiveness will be enhanced. Action science is a plan of action and consists of a series of steps and actions that can be effected in a way that the participants (residents) can eventually end up developing the right confidence in performing procedures on real patients from the experience gained from working on or with models.

The idea here is to use action science ideas and concepts to enhance the procedural skills and confidence of residents. Working in an environment that is ever changing, each participant has to develop an ability and readiness to change accordingly (Action design, 2011). The idea is to use the action science principles in a manner that will enable participants (residents) to adapt to the needs of the ever changing work environment. The need to use models rather than real patients is indeed a great change.

The model and the real patient are different in so many ways. Having to use models to learn critical procedural skills is important and with the use of action science it then becomes much easier for the residents to learn while using models since action science